You know those people at the gym that jam out on the elliptical machine like they are in a nightclub, lip-syncing along with their ear phoned-in music, arms flailing and hair tossing, occasionally emitting some high-pitched screechy sounds that resemble singing?
I am one of those people.
I jam at the gym. I admit it. (That'd me, above, if I were ipod-ized)
Last week, I was listening to a new Lenny Kravitz song, "Love, Love, Love" (go download it from iTunes or whathaveyou) and got to thinking about Love, God and What Really Matters.
The Cliff Notes version of Lenny's song is that he don't need nothin - like money, fame, jewelry, drugs or someone to get him laid - he's got LOVE. It's a great song, and very conducive to gym-jamming. And, really, what does Matter?
The economy is deeply messed up and we all feel it. So many have been hard-core affected, and those who've only felt it peripherally, it's on our minds. As much as I bow my head to the realities of many people's lives, scorched and splintered by our nose-diving economy, I also still see that this country is still the richest in the world, still happily consuming away. For most (not all) of us, it means we now can't buy a new car, we have to make due with our three-year old one. Or we can't buy the blu-ray player, we have to make due with our DVD player. American consuming and rich livin' marches on for most. Yet still, there's nothing like the threat of recession and depression to get us frightened about all that can be taken away.
But what doesn't get taken away? What feeds Mother Theresa? What sustained Nelson Mandela in prison for all those years? What made Gandhi get up, morning after morning, sore from another beating? What fuels a single mother of three toddlers in the inner city?
I call it Love.
What is it that you Love?
What thunders through you, demanding to be felt? What moves you, taps at your heart and buckles you at your knees? What doesn't go away when your things do? What doesn't go away when your lover or your mother does? What feeds you, but not through your plate? What courses through your veins and comes out as a palpable blast of creativity? What quietly keeps you company when your heart is breaking? What compels you to sing in the shower - or at the gym?
What is it that you Love?
Bow to That. Cultivate That. Honor That. Feed That. Flirt with That.
We could all do with a direct upline to Love, Love, Love.
And while you are madly flirting with the unique expression of Love and experience of Love in your life, watch this clip of Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of "Eat, Pray, Love") speaking on Creativity, Genius, God and Love on Ted TV:
http://www.ted.org/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
It was my eye-watering, heart-melting, exultant dose of Love today.
Go Love, Love, Love.
LiYana
